wet bag torture

A method of torture where a prisoner is handcuffed or tied up, and a bag or wet cloth is applied to their face and then pulled tight, causing suffocation.

The technique was made famous when at South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1998 when a security policeman, Jeff Benzien demonstrated his mastery of this technique while confessing his sins. He claimed that he could break any prisoner in less than half an hour using this and other methods. He demonstrated the technique to the media when questioned by Tony Yengeni, who was in the late 1980s a victim of his interrogation, and was then a member of parliament for the ANC.